Bottle dispensing configuration

ABSTRACT

Beverage or product dispensing packages with dimensions such that when one package is placed upright behind a second package that is laid on its side, a surface is visible behind the second package. This surface is used to provide a message to the consumer that indicates that additional beverages are available or are waiting. Likewise, the absence of such message can be used to remind the user to purchase additional products. In addition, a message placed on the dispensing face of the second package can inform the consumer that more product needs to be purchased if the message on package  1  is not present.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a non-provisional application claiming priority toU.S. Provisional Application for Patent filed on Mar. 28, 2006 andassigned Ser. No. 60/767,445.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Everyone knows that a warm soda is useless, unless that is, you havesome ice handy. However, there is absolutely no salvation for a warmbeer. Until it is chilled, and preferably ice cold, a beer is absolutelyworthless. You know this very well if you have ever walked into thehouse on a Saturday afternoon after just mowing the lawn under a blazinghot August sun. The offer of a warm beer would not be so well received.Beer companies are also quite aware of this fact. If their beers are notcold, people will not drink them, people will not run out of beer, andthe overall result, less beer will be purchased.

Beer suppliers, as well as other beverage providers are all plagued withthis phenomena—how can we ensure that the consumer always has a coldbeverage on hand? Efforts to meet this head off have included thedevelopment of a plethora of packaging concepts. Such concepts haveincluded the advent of the six-pack, two-liter bottle, the 12-pack, thefridge pack and the can dispenser. However, all of these developmentshave a few common problems. The first problem is that the packages takeup valuable real estate within an already crowded consumer refrigerator.But the more prevalent problem is that not only do the packagingconcepts take up real estate, but they take up the real estate even whenmost of the contents are gone. In fact, it is not uncommon in somehouseholds to actually have a totally empty beverage package in therefrigerator. The wife will typically blame this on a lazy husband butwe all know what the truth is—the packages are all closed containersexcept for the dispensing hole and as such, one cannot really tell ifthe package is completely empty. Thus, the above mentioned phenomenastill exists—how can we ensure that the consumer always has a coldbeverage on hand? Because a cold but empty box does not help promotebeverage sales and certainly does not quince one's thirst.

What is needed in the art is a solution that alleviates this problem.The present invention is such a solution.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In general, the present invention helps to encourage the presence ofcold beverages in a consumers refrigerator at all times. Morespecifically, the present invention can be described as a packagingsystem that can be arranged in such a manner to have additionalbeverages cooling in the refrigerator in one package while beverages arebeing dispensed from another package. Further, the reserve package alsoincludes a media for indicating to the consumer that additionalbeverages are available.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1A is a block diagram showing the relative dimensions of anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1B is a perspective drawing of one embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The various embodiments of the present invention relate to a method ofpositioning beverage containers so as to enable the visibility of acommunication when such containers are so positioned. In one embodimentof the invention, two beverage containers are positioned so that onesuch container is in front and laid on its front side. The secondcontainer is positioned upright. As can be seen in the figures, becauseof the positioning, the second container is visible behind (and aportion above) the first container. The visible portion of the secondcontainer would contain a visible message. In the figures, such messageis “Another Cold Front is Coming In.” The positioning of the containersand the placement of the message is strategically set up in thisembodiment in the event that these two containers are on a refrigeratorshelf. In this situation, a person peering into the refrigerator will beable to see and understand that another container is behind the frontcontainer and, thus, plenty of beverages are available for consumption.This messaging also serves as a reminder to a consumer that when he/sheremoves and throws away an empty front container, the back containershould be slid forward and a new container should be placed behind thenewly placed front container (so that it can be cooled, in thisembodiment). The same system can be used in places other than arefrigerator—such as on a shelf, bookcase, and retail display. Thissystem provides for interesting marketing opportunities for the beverageproducer, such as the ability to package two beverage containerstogether for sale or provide incentives for purchasing beveragecontainers in quantity. Also, game, contest or other promotional piecescan be created that leverages the “twin pack” nature of this marketingapproach.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram showing the relative dimensions of anembodiment of the present invention. As can be seen, the boxes representproduct containers, such as beverage dispensing refrigerator packages.When the package is in the upright or stored position, the height, ordimension A is larger than the bottom, or dimension B. When the packageis turned on its side for dispensing, the dimension A is located on thebottom (i.e., resting on a shelf) and the dimension B represents theheight. With dimension A being larger than dimension B, the overallresult is that a portion 100 of package 1 can be seen behind package 2.

FIG. 1B is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention.Package 1 is shown as positioned behind package 2. The dimension A islarger than dimension B which results in the area 100 being visiblebehind package 2. In an exemplary embodiment, this area is used toprovide a message to the consumer regarding the available beverages andas a reminder to purchase additional beverages. For instance, theconsumer may always have a visible message behind the package currentlydispensing beverages to indicate that there are at least one package ofbeverages remaining. The message in area 100 may state that “anotherpackage is waiting”. In addition, this message may also remind the userto purchase another package. Alternatively, the top or dispensing frontof the package 110 may include a message reminding the user to purchasemore product, especially if there is no package behind the currentpackage. For instance, area 110 may state “if you don't see anothercontainer behind this one, purchase more product”. In an alternativeembodiment, package 2 may include a flap on the back of the package thatis attached along line 120. This flap can be lifted up and rest upon theside of package 1 positioned behind package 2. If package 1 is notpresent, the flap falls down behind package 2 and is not visible.Otherwise, the flap is visible and the message area 100 could be locatedon that flap.

1. A system for facilitating the availability of product dispensed froma package, the system comprising: a first package with a dimension A anda dimension B, where as the planes for these dimensions areperpendicular to each other and A is larger than B; a second packagewith dimension A and dimension B on perpendicular planes; wherein if thefirst package is in a first orientation and the second package is in asecond orientation, a portion of the first package on the plane withdimension A is visible over the second package.
 2. The system of claim1, wherein the first and second packages are beverage dispensers.
 3. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the first package includes a messagepositioned on the planer side with dimension A that is visible when thefirst package in the first orientation is positioned behind the secondpackage in the second orientation.